King of America
War was Only Half the Battle
by
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Actually, the first move was not a move at all, but a twitch. The handle of the revolver was turned toward Clay’s left hand – Troubetzkoi, assuming the man would be right handed, was looking for any advantage – so his obvious opening gambit would be to the left. Suddenly his left shoulder feigned forward slightly. In a flash the Russian brought his sword slicing down onto the tabletop, fully expecting to encounter the soft flesh of a wrist or hand. His next move was to be a well-placed thrust to the heart. But, Troubetzkoi’s blade found nothing but hard tabletop.
Clay’s left hand had not moved, except to the edge of table. The big American pushed hard on the table and sent it sliding noisily across the floor, spilling drinking glasses and silver everywhere. The sliding tabletop struck Troubetzkoi just below the waist, forcing him to bend forward slightly to catch his balance. The noise had broken Henry’s spell and for one sliver of a second, he turned toward the Russian, in time to see an incredible look of surprise move across his face. The next move came so fast that Henry only imagined he saw it.
While Clay’s left hand did not come forward, his right one did. The minute Troubetzkoi had approached, Clay’s right arm had dropped to his side and his hand had balled into a huge fist. During the conversation, the Kentuckian’s brain had been continually making tiny calculations of force and distance, making certain that if the fist were called upon, it would have an unfettered path to Troubetzkoi’s head. The final computation was nearly perfect. The Clay fist met the Russian head, just below the count’s left temple. The blow was made even more effective by the Russian’s slight move forward as he was knocked off balance by the table. Head and fist met with the dull pop of a deliveryman dropping a sack of flour.
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About the Book
In
the early 1800s a beautiful, rebellious American teenager was seduced and later
abandoned by the spoiled, ambitious youngest brother of Napoleon I. Little did
anyone realize at the time that the scandal, one of the most highly publicized
of the 19th Century, would set in motion a chain of events that a half-century
later would threaten to change the future of the world.
“King
of America” tells the forgotten story of how this scorned woman and her
offspring were pulled into a plot to turn the tide of the bloody American Civil
War. It posits how two sons of American privilege, Henry Adams, the grandson of
Presidents, and Cassius Clay, one of the most hated of Southern anti-slavery
abolitionists, join forces to foil the scheme.
The
novel combines the “coming of age” story of a 19th Century beauty’s painful
lessons in love and seduction, with the violent “buddy” adventure of two
diametrically different American patriots, who learn mutual respect while
trying to foil the evil plot. It deals with the earliest days of the Civil War,
when the brain trust behind the Confederate government realize their only
chance of winning secession is to secure the military support of a foreign
ally. France and its Emperor, Napoleon III, emerge as the best hope to extend
aid and recognition, which is how a family of American Bonapartes are brought
into the intrigue.
“King
of America” provides a believable, well-researched scenario for how the
Confederate offer was made and how it was foiled. Americans know the details of
the Civil War, but “King of America” tells the story they don’t know, the
foreign intrigue and diplomacy that had as much to do with the outcome of that
war as any battle.
About the Author
Bob
Keith Bonebrake has spent nearly 20 years as a writer, editor and researcher,
working for the Associated Press and other news and publishing groups in